Touch ID fingerprint technology to be upgraded for new iPhone

Apple is set to improve its Touch ID fingerprint reader with the next incarnation of the iPhone.

That’s the latest Apple rumour from a respected analyst house, KGI, and of course we’d expect some improvements to be made – although the enhancements won’t be anything major. In other words, the patent application we recently saw that put the sensor under the actual display is still some way off in the future.

On that subject, KGI stated: “Though Apple has filed patents for the integration of Touch ID and touch panel, this isn’t likely to bear fruit near term as complex algorithms and sapphire cover lens are also required. We therefore don’t see any impact on supply chain momentum.”

Rather, according to KGI (via 9 to 5 Mac) the new Touch ID sensor will still be tucked into the Home button, but will boast improved levels of security, and more accurate reading for less errors, as Apple tries to make its payment service (Apple Pay) more streamlined and smooth running, to ensure adoption where rivals have failed. And Apple Pay seems to have been doing a pretty good job over in the States thus far…

KGI is also predicting a very large rise in the shipments of the fingerprint sensor module this year, with 262 million shipped – which is an increase of 77 per cent on last year.

Currently, iPhone 6 sales are doing an absolute storm, and Apple is certainly sitting pretty in the mobile arena, having caught up to Samsung according to some figures which have been bandied about lately.